Carter File, left, sitting next to Hutchinson Community College student government president Adam Pohl, talks during a President’s Council and Representative Assembly at Hutchinson Community College on Friday morning as part of his interview process for the job of president of the college.

Carter File, left, sitting next to Hutchinson Community College student government president Adam Pohl, talks during a President’s Council and Representative Assembly at Hutchinson Community College on Friday morning as part of his interview process for the job of president of the college.

Carter File, a vice president at Hutchinson Community College who calls HCC President Edward Berger his “mentor,” will become president of the college July 1.

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Carter File, a vice president at Hutchinson Community College who calls HCC President Edward Berger his “mentor,” will become president of the college July 1.

Ninety-two people filled the theater in HCC’s Shears Technology Center for the special meeting of the Board of Trustees at 4 p.m. Thursday. Chairman Marla Eriksen announced File’s name, prompting a standing ovation. After a formal 7-0 vote, another round of applause began.

“To say I’m humbled is an understatement,” File said.

Vice president of finance and operations at HCC for the last eight and a half years, File thanked faculty and staff, the senior management at HCC, members of the Hutchinson community, and the board of trustees. The board’s demonstration of faith and confidence in him “is humbling,” he said.

Following Berger, File said, “is gong to be a yeoman’s task.” As long as the college is focused on the success of the students, “we can never fail,” he said.

Berger is retiring June 30. He was dean of continuing education at HCC before becoming president in 1991.

“I look forward to the next 22 years,” File quipped Thursday.

File’s annual salary as vice president is $92,866. Under the one-page presidential contract, his base annual salary starting in July will be $130,000, with an additional $9,000 reimbursement for mileage and $1,800 for a cellphone. A continuing education reimbursement of $3,500 also is included. The two-year employment contract will run through June 30, 2016.

Berger’s current annual base salary is $140,000. Berger received an allocation for mileage and continuing education, but no cellphone expense.

Eriksen said the board of trustees discussed the presidential choice for over an hour in executive session Tuesday night. At one point Tuesday night, she said, File was called.

There was not much negotiating over a contract, she said. File asked for the cellphone allowance, she said, and that was added.

Between Tuesday night and Thursday’s special board meeting, File said he “tried not to smile a lot.”

“I’m a kid from Beloit,” he said, who looks around “and can’t believe my good fortune,” he said.

Berger, as usual, sat at the board of trustees table for the special meeting Thursday. Eriksen thanked Berger for understanding his role in the presidential search, saying she was sure it was very hard for him not to be involved in something so important to the college.

After the meeting, Berger called File “a great choice.”

The college enlisted an executive search company to advise a local search committee. From a beginning pool of 27 applicants, seven semifinalists emerged and were interviewed by the search committee. The field narrowed to four finalists, each participating in a daylong interview on campus.

Besides File, there were finalists from Arizona and Ohio, as well as HCC’s vice president of academic affairs Cindy Hoss.

“I think the group worked really hard not to make a decision quickly,” said Darrell Pankratz, vice chairman of the board of trustees and a member of the search committee.

Hundreds of people heard the four finalists and were asked to fill out evaluation forms. The forms then were scanned into the computer, so all board members could read them online. Pankratz said he read every one.

The importance of the college to people came through in the evaluations, Pankratz said.